British Water Voles

The Water Vole (Arvicola Amphibius) was made famous for its character Ratty in Wind In The Willows. The population in the UK has fallen from its estimated pre-1960 level of around 8 million to 2.3 million in 1990 and to 354,000 in 1998. This represents a 90-95% loss. It is still declining dramatically, the most recent estimate for 2004 is around 220,000. This decline is partly attributed to the American Mink, an aggressive predator of the vole, together with unsympathetic farming and watercourse management which destroyed parts of the water vole's habitat. On 26 February 2008, the UK Government announced full legal protection for water voles would be introduced from 6 April 2008 Consequently, the water vole is the UK's fastest declining mammal and efforts are under way to protect the water vole and its habitat from further destruction.